Method of limiting brewer operation to authorized substances

ABSTRACT

A method, apparatus and system for preventing unauthorized equipment usage that involves providing equipment, such as beverage making equipment, to a customer. Authorized product is provided to the customer in packaging that has a technological measure attached. The equipment includes a technological measure reader to read information from the technological measure to set the equipment to perform an authorized number of food or beverage making cycles. An authorization deactivator may also be provided in association with the equipment to erase, decrement, or otherwise prevent the technological measure from being reused.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/482,839, filed Jun. 26, 2003; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/508,765 filed Oct. 3, 2003; and U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 60/560,792 filed Apr. 7, 2004. The disclosuresset forth in the referenced provisional applications are incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety, including all information asoriginally submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

BACKGROUND

It is known practice for sellers of beverage products to providebeverage equipment to offices and the like for making beverage product.The buyer does not purchase the equipment, but rather receives theequipment at no charge or a relatively small charge. The seller recoversthe cost of providing the equipment, and in many situations maintenanceof the equipment, through the sale of product in an office coffeeservice program (“OCS program”). The seller loses profit if the customeruses the equipment to make beverages with product outside of the OCSprogram, i.e. not purchased from the seller, (“unauthorized product”).This is known in the industry as “customer cheating” or unauthorizedequipment usage.

Usually the equipment manufacturer's name and in some situations an OCSproviders name is displayed on the equipment. As a result, if thecustomer uses product from outside of the OCS program and the product islower quality, these names can be tarnished in the mind of the consumerbecause it is now being associated with a lower quality product. It isdesirable to have a method of monitoring an OCS program and theequipment to verify that only the intended OCS program product providedby the equipment provider (the “authorized product”) is used. With sucha method, customer cheating can be reduced or prevented.

The issues described above with regard to providing beverages, such asin an OCS program, occur in other product providing businesses. With theforegoing in mind, this issue should not be limited to discussion of OCSprograms but should be considered expansively with regard to theprovision of other food products and other products generally. It isenvisioned that this situation may occur in other food productbusinesses such as vending whereby inexpensive, off-brand or inferiorproducts might be offered or substituted.

In addition to possibly negatively impacting the name of the equipmentmanufacturer, it might also negatively impact the customer of theservice, for example the party who engages the service to provideequipment at its facility. For example, many employers contract forthese services and products, and the switching of products could tarnishthe employers name in the eyes of its employees, (i.e. the employer isproviding substandard products to its employees). In this regard, it isenvisioned that the these problems occur in any situation in whichproduct is provided and there is an opportunity to substitute anotherproduct.

The present disclosure relates to a method, apparatus, and system forpreventing customer cheating in the office coffee services context. Theterm “office coffee services” is used for illustrative purposes only.The disclosed method, apparatus, and system is useful in any contextwhere it is desirable for a product and services provider to monitortheir customers to prevent customer cheating or unauthorized equipmentusage. “Customer cheating” or “unauthorized equipment usage” includesany situation for example, in which a customer exceeds the number ofauthorized brews or uses an unauthorized product with the beverageequipment. Although this disclosure refers to brewing equipment andbeverages, the present method, apparatus, and system is also applicableto equipment used to dispense other beverages, foods and products. Forconvenience, the terms “brewing equipment” and “brews” are usedthroughout this disclosure, although “dispensing equipment” and“dispensations” may be used in place of these terms and still be withinthe scope of this disclosure. Also disclosed is a kit for associationwith existing brewing equipment to provide such equipment with thefunctionality of the disclosed method, apparatus, and system.

The method may include a first step of providing equipment to a customerat a reduced cost or without direct charge. The equipment is designed orretrofitted to allow monitoring of the number of brewing cycles or someother measurable characteristic of the equipment related to use. Second,authorized product is provided to the customer. Authorized product isproduct which is authorized for the program and is associated with thesystem and equipment described below. The packaging or labeling of theauthorized product contains at least one technological measure toidentify the product as authorized product. The technological measurescan also be read by or otherwise communicate with or provide informationto the beverage equipment either directly or indirectly to authorize oractivate a predetermined number of brewing cycles or other measurablecharacteristic. In a third step, the customer is only permitted to usethe equipment to produce beverage when the predetermined number ofauthorized brewing cycles has not been exceeded or other measure has notoccured. The customer can reset or increase the number of authorizedbrewing cycles using new product packaging or other authorizationmechanism.

The technological measures disclosed include but are not limited to thefollowing: barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), carriercards, magnetic stripes, magnetic cards, or other type of machinereadable codes, indicia, numbers, characters, symbols, pictures orimages, mechanisms, signals, structures, sounds, impulses,transmissions, devices or chips. The equipment may be designed tointerfere, block, remove, erase, destroy, capture, catalogue, exhaust orotherwise cancel or prevent further use of the technological measure toprevent the customer from intentionally circumventing, copying orreusing the technological measure.

Additional features will become apparent to those skilled in the artupon consideration of the following detailed description of drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description particularly refers to the accompanying figuresin which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified flow diagram view of a method for preventingunauthorized equipment usage;

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagrammatic view of the components of equipmentfor use with the method of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagrammatic view of the equipment of FIG. 2 incommunication with a pencode reader;

FIG. 4 is a simplified diagrammatic view of the equipment of FIG. 2 incommunication with an upstanding barcode reader;

FIG. 5 shows one example of a slide type magnetic card reader;

FIG. 6 shows one example of a card capture type card reader;

FIG. 7 is a simplified diagrammatic view of the card reader of FIG. 5associated with an authorization deactivator;

FIG. 8 shows a brewing funnel with a RFID chip;

FIG. 9 shows the brewing funnel of FIG. 8 inserted into beverage makingequipment;

FIG. 10 shows beverage equipment with one example of a technologicalmeasure reader;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of the top of the equipment of FIG. 10showing the technological measure reader; and

FIG. 12 shows the technological measure reader of FIG. 11 with amagnetic card inserted therein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the present disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment indifferent forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will bedescribed in detail, embodiments with the understanding that the presentdescription is to be considered an exemplification of the principles ofthe disclosure and is not intended to limit the disclosure to thedetails of construction and the arrangements of components set forth inthe following description or illustrated in the drawings.

Terms including brewed, brewing, brewing substance, brewing liquid, andbrewed beverage, beverage, and beverage making as used herein areintended to be broadly defined as including but not limited to thebrewing of coffee, tea, herbs, and any other beverage. This broadinterpretation is also intended to include, but is not limited to anyprocess of infusing, steeping, reconstituting, diluting, dissolving,saturating or pass a liquid through or otherwise mixing or combining abeverage or food substance with a liquid such as water without alimitation to the temperature of such liquid unless specified. Thisbroad interpretation is also intended to include, but is not limited tobeverage or food substances such as ground coffee, tea, herbs, soup,liquid beverage or food concentrate, powdered beverage or foodconcentrate, freeze dried beverages or foods or other food concentratesto obtain a desired beverage or other food. Additionally, other forms ofjuice, tea and beverage concentrates and liquid, semi-liquid or gel formmay be provided. The containers for such concentrates may be referred toas bag-in-box or BIB.

With reference to the figures, FIG. 1. is a simplified diagrammaticflowchart showing steps to prevent unauthorized equipment usage. Thismethod can be employed by office coffee services providers or vendorsand the like. In a first step 10, the office coffee service vendor orprovider, referred to as the “Vendor” hereinafter for convenience,provides a customer with beverage or food dispensing equipment(“equipment”) 12 (see FIG. 2). The equipment 12 includes traditionalmechanisms and structures for preparing and dispensing foods orbeverages, these mechanisms and structures being hereinafter referred toas a “food dispensing portion” 13 of the equipment 12.

The equipment 12 is typically provided at low cost or at no charge suchas, by way of example but not limitation, by a non-fee lease. In onebusiness model, the Vendor does not plan to make a profit primarily fromleasing or selling the equipment 12, but rather plans to recover thecost of the equipment 12 primarily though the sale of authorizedproduct.

Referring to FIG. 2, equipment 12 includes a controller 14 electrically,controllably communicating with food dispensing portion 13. Controller14 includes circuitry or programming to monitor the number of brewingcycles performed by the food dispensing portion 13 and also capable ofshutting down or otherwise rendering the equipment 12 inoperable. A“brewing cycle” refers to one iteration of a brewing process that usesan amount of product found in one individually packed product packaging.For example, if the product is coffee, one individually packed productpackaging would be one coffee packet, fractional package, can, brewingpod, automated brewer brewing cup, bag-in-box packaging, pouches, bags,capsules, or other such unit for producing beverages. In this scenario,one brewing cycle would be one iteration of using the coffee packet tomake one volume, such as a cup or pot, of coffee which may include oneor more servings. In an institutional or cafeteria setting, the brewsize may be larger than one pot and may be as large as a multi-gallonserver or reservoir. As another example, the result of a brew cycle fora single-cup coffeemaker would be a single cup of coffee. Any amount ofproduct needed for a selected brewing cycle may used so long as theequipment is configured to monitor how many brewing cycles have beenperformed, how many products have been used or other measure of use.

Controller 14 also keeps an authorized brewing cycle count. Theauthorized brewing cycle count is a measure of use such as the number ofauthorized brewing cycles remaining and is automatically decrementedwhenever a brewing cycle is initiated, completed or otherwise indicatedto have been performed. In an alternative embodiment, a technologicalmeasure can be used to perform the count monitoring functions describedin the first embodiment to be performed by the controller 14. For thetechnological measure to monitor the authorized brewing cycle count, thetechnological measure may contain some type of volatile or rewriteablememory such as updateable flash memory, magnetic stripe memory, orinductive or conductive memory device. In such an embodiment, thecontroller 14 communicates with the technological measure to change thecount thereon.

The equipment 12 is also fitted with a technological measure reader orscanner (“reader”) 15 which is electrically connected and controllablyoperated by controller 14. Reader 15 may differ depending on the type oftechnological measure to be used with equipment 12. Equipment 12 mayalso be fitted with more than one reader 15 for compatibility with morethan one technological measure. The reader 15 may be designed to preventthe technological measures from being rescanned, reused, or otherwisedeceitfully used to cheat the Vendor. Various embodiments of reader 15and corresponding technological measures are described in more detailbelow.

The current method utilizes equipment 12 described above in conjunctionwith a machine function enabler or technological measure contained onthe authorized product's packaging or shipped with the authorizedproduct. A technological measure is some device or code that wheninterpreted by or communicated to controller 14 through reader 15,adjusts the authorized brewing cycle count or otherwise enablesoperation of equipment 12. Packaging as used in this disclosure refersto the structure enveloping the authorized product for traditionalshipping and identification purposes, and for some embodiments of thecurrent method, apparatus, and system, for having embedded within thepackaging a technological measure of the type described above. Specificforms of packaging include by way of example, but are not limited tocoffee packets, bag-in-box packaging, fractional packs, cans, pods,pouches, capsule, bags, and single-serving containers.

The technological measure may also contain data or codes correspondingto other useful information about the product such as, for example, theVendor's ID, recipes for one or more brewing parameters, passcodes,expiration dates, and so forth. Controlling the brewing process cantherefore be improved by this method, apparatus, and system as well. Theequipment may be configured to directly sense properties of the productitself. These properties may also be considered technological measures.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in a second step 18 of the disclosed method,the Vendor sells authorized product to the customer. The number ofbrewing cycles authorized by a particular product packaging may dependon how the product is packaged or shipped. For example, for a typicalbeverage, such as coffee, the grounds come from a roaster in sealedpackages of predetermined weight. Each package may contain the propermeasure of ground coffee to produce a given volume of finished brew. Forinstance, a package might contain two ounces of ground coffee to be usedto produce 64 ounces of brewed beverage. The packages may be sold by thecase with each case containing about 40–100 packages. A Vendor mayprogram the packaging to include a number of extra authorized brewingcycles to account for setup, cleaning, and false start purposes.

In a third step 20 of the method, the customer uses the technologicalmeasures on or with the packaging to reset or increment the authorizedbrewing cycle count. Using the packaging descriptions above as anexample, if the two ounce package contains a technological measure, thatpackage can be read by reader 15 to increment the count by one brewingcycle. Alternatively, a forty container case may include a technologicalmeasure that increments the count by forty brewing cycles. As is evidentfrom this example, any combination of packaging quantities and brewcycle increments can be used.

In a fourth step 22, each time the customer attempts to use equipment12, controller 14 references the count to determine whether there are asufficient number of authorized brewing cycles remaining to complete thebrewing cycles requested. As shown in step 24, if there are brewingcycles remaining, the product is brewed and the count is decremented. Ifno authorized brewing cycles remain, the brewing cycle is not permittedas shown in step 26. As shown in step 27, if the customer has additionalpackaging containing unused authorized brewing cycles, that packagingcan be scanned or read to reset or increment the authorized brewingcycle count. It should be noted that the product used need not beauthorized product. Regardless of which product is used for a brewingcycle, the count is decremented. With this arrangement, the customer'sincentive for using unauthorized product, whether it be price, or anyother reason, is effectively removed. If the customer has no additionalauthorized product packaging remaining, new supplies of product must beordered from the Vendor. Without the technological measure, theequipment will not function.

An application in which a concentrate is used, the concentrate may be,by way of example, but not limitation in the form of a juice concentratecontainer, coffee concentrate container, tea concentrate container orother concentrate container. Such concentrate containers may be loaded,for example, in the form of a cartridge into a dispensing machine. Thetechnological measure can be carried on the container with reader 15being carried on equipment 12. Placement of the container in the machinefacilitates communication of the technological measure and reader 15.The technological measure can be programmed to accommodate apredetermined number of cycles and may have additional cycles programmedin the event of adjustments or concentration or other variables.Additionally, the reader 15 may function in any of the other formsdescribed in this disclosure so that the system may erase thetechnological measure, or otherwise deactivate the technological measureat the conclusion of or exhaustion of the concentrate material.Similarly, the concentrate container such as in the form of a BIB may belocated separate from equipment 12. Reader 15 associated with thedispensing equipment may be used to scan or otherwise read thetechnological measure. Reader 15 may function in any appropriate way todeactivate the technological measure at the conclusion of thepre-programmed dispensing cycles or upon reading of the technologicalmeasure. These additional examples as well as others contained in thisdescription show the flexibility and diverse applications of the systemset forth herein.

Various embodiments of technological measures can be used with thecurrent method, apparatus, and system. One example is a bar code orother machine readable code on the authorized product packaging that canbe read by a code reader embodiment of reader 15. Examples of codereaders include the pen code reader 23 shown in FIG. 3 and the uprightcode reader 25 shown in FIG. 4. Another embodiment is a singlepreprogrammed RFID chip located within each case of product oraccompanying the product on a carrier card, in which case reader 15would be an RFID transceiver.

Alternatively, the technological measure can be a magnetic card 28 ormagnetic stripe on product packaging which may be read with a reader forswiping magnetic cards 30 such as the reader shown in FIG. 5 or a readerfor inserting a magnetic card 32 as that shown in FIG. 6, whichoptionally may include an LCD display 34 for displaying informationstored on the card 28. The technological measure may also be a magnetictag, which is capable of being manufactured or woven into productpackaging.

The RFID chip or RFID chip/card combination can itself act as a counterto hold the authorized brewing cycle count which is capable of beingaccessed and updated by the controller 14 via the reader 15 when inelectrical communication with the equipment 12. In this embodiment, theRFID chip is delivered with a selected number of authorized brew cyclesprogrammed therein. The equipment 12 sends a signal to the RFID chipeach time a brewing cycle is performed to decrement the number ofauthorized brewing cycles. The RFID chip can be returned to the Vendorto be reset when no authorized brewing cycles are left, or disposed ofafter use.

As discussed above, a technological measure may be a magnetic stripe 29.In either the barcode or magnetic stripe embodiments, the codes storedtherein may be serialized so equipment 12 can keep track of theremaining authorized brewing cycles for multiple food or beverageproduct. This means that there may be multiple counters active withinthe brewer, each keeping track of the number of remaining authorizedcycles for a given product associated with a given number. The counterto be decremented is determined by the serialized number read by theslide type scanner 30 or upstanding scanner 32 prior to initiating thebrew cycle.

A problem associated with using technological measures is that suchmeasures are subject to abuse by the customer. For example, if thebarcode is on product packaging, and if the consumer is careful not totear the barcode while opening the package, the barcode can bedeceitfully rescanned. In order to combat such abuse, reader 15 may beconfigured to perform a “deactivating function” to interfere, block,remove, erase, destroy, capture, catalogue, exhaust or otherwise cancel,or capture, the technological measure after scanning or reading thetechnological measure. If configured to perform a deactivating function,the reader 15 may include an authorization deactivator to destroy ordegrade the technological measure.

The following are several non-limiting illustrative examples ofauthorization deactivators. A laser in the barcode reader embodiment ofthe scanner may interact with the barcode ink causing the ink to nolonger be readable. Alternatively, the deactivating function may be topunch a hole into a barcode or magnetic stripe embodiment of thetechnological measure to prevent reuse in which case the deactivatingmeans would be a hole punch. In yet another embodiment, thetechnological measure may be covered until the reader 15 removes thecovering to read the code. With this embodiment, the deactivatingfunction would be to have code that was previously uncovered not beaccepted by the reader 15. The authorization deactivation may also be aheating element to melt the technological measure or an actuateableblade for slicing or cutting the technological measure to prevent reuse.This authorization deactivator may be desirable when the blade is usedboth to open the packaging and to destroy the technological measuresimultaneously.

Another example of a deactivating function is to have each read of thetechnological measure decrement the count of a number of authorizedbrews stored on a volatile counter on the technological measure.Additionally, equipment 12 can collect or capture the technologicalmeasure for preventing reuse by the customer. For example, thetechnological measure may be placed in a portion of the equipment 12 forreading by equipment 12. The location in equipment 12 may either stampout, cut or otherwise collect the technological measure once it has beenread prior to activation of equipment 12. The technological measure canact as a token or chip to cause activation of the machine.Alternatively, such a technological measure may be placed in thecontainer or somehow attached to the packet so that it can be insertedby the user to perform the function. In such situations thetechnological measure could be in the form of a coin or other activationdevice.

With reference to the card reader embodiments 30, 32 of reader 15, anauthorization information deactivator 36, as shown in FIG. 7, inassociation with card reader 30 or 32 may be used to write to, or eraseinformation on, card 28. One example of an authorization deactivator 36may be an electromagnet or other controllably operated magnet. As amagnetic card 28 is moved in direction shown by arrow 37, the authorizedbrewing cycle information stored thereon is both read, while passing byreader 30, and erased, while passing by authorization deactivator 36 inthe form of an electromagnetic.

Card reader 30 may be configured to capture card 28 during processingsuch that card 28 may not be ejected until processing is complete.Although any size or configuration of card 28 may be used, one cardstandard that can be used with the current system is defined by ISOstandards 7810–7813 related to financial transaction cards.Alternatively, card reader 30 may include a slot through which a portionof card 28 is passed during processing (see FIG. 5). In anotherembodiment, card reader 32 may be a slot into which at least a portionof the card is inserted (see FIG. 6). In such an embodiment, card reader32 may include a clamping or capturing structure to at least partiallyhold card 28 during processing. One example of a card reader 30 that canbe used is the Mag-Tek magnetic stripe reader from Raco Industries,although other readers may be used as well.

In one embodiment, reader 30 is configured to accept the information onthe card if the card is moved sufficiently slowly to allow card 28 to beread such that all intended information stored thereon is transferred tocontroller 14. After card 28 is read, an associated electromagnet isactivated to erase card 28. If card 28 is swiped too quickly, the swipewill neither be registered nor card 28 erased. Instead, the system willsignal the user to swipe card 28 again. If the swipe or insertion occursat a satisfactory rate, the information transferred from the card willbe registered and card 28 erased.

Authorization information deactivator 36 may be positioned in suchproximity to the card reader 30 so as to allow the information on themagnetic strip or other data carrying structure on the card to bedeleted or modified using generally known methods, generally immediatelyafter being read.

Reader 30 or 32 may be fixedly or removably attached to a controller 14of equipment 12 via a communications path. Reader 30 or 32 may begenerally fixedly attached to equipment 12, such as being positionedinside a cutout in the equipment's housing, in which case thecommunications path may be internal wiring. Alternatively, reader 30 or32 may be removably or externally attached in which case thecommunications path may be any suitable electrical communications pathincluding an RS-232 cable, USB cable, or a wireless communication signalusing technology generally known in the art.

FIG. 10 shows one embodiment of equipment 12 in combination with anattached capture type reader 32. FIG. 11 focuses in on reader 32 whichhas LCD display 34. Display 34 may be dimensioned to provide a large,clear display to provide ample notification to the user of the number ofauthorized brewing cycles remaining. A card slot 44 is positioned alongreader 32 to allow insertion of card 28. Reader 32 may have a cutoutsection 46 that creates an open area along the top portion of a card 28when inserted to allow easy access and subsequent removal. Reader 32 mayalso include instructional indicia 48 showing, in simplified form, howto insert card 28. The embodiment shown in FIG. 11 connects reader 32via internal wiring to equipment 12 and/or controller 14 positionedtherein. Although this embodiment shows reader 32 being mounted toequipment 12, reader 32 may also be connected at some distance away fromequipment either by a wire or using wireless technologies known in theart. FIG. 12 shows reader 34 with a card 28 positioned for being read.Card 28 is properly inserted because magnetic stripe 29 is aligned asshown in instructional indicia 48.

Controller 14 may be used to control one or more of the functions ofequipment 12 including locking out operation such as preventing fooddispensing portion 13 from powering on. Controller 14 may also be usedto controllably lockout operation of one or more valves, such as aninlet valve, a valve that controls flow between a pour over basin andheating reservoir or passage, or an outlet valve. If equipment 12 isconfigured, or can be programmed, in the manner described above, toprevent operation when such valves are closed, controller 14 need onlycontrol one of these structures to effectively prevent operation ofbrewing equipment 12 in its entirety. Controller 12 may also operate adisplay on equipment 12 to signal to the user that equipment 12 islocked. This signal may be in any detectable form including a textmessage on a read out screen, or an illumination of a warning light.Other auditory, visual, and tactile signals may be used as well.

In another authorization card embodiment, equipment 12 will capture andretain card 28. Equipment 12 may include a cavity or storage space forcollecting cards 28. An accumulation of cards 28 can be collected by theservice personnel of the Vendor as they conduct their regular roundsservicing equipment 12, or delivering additional product, or at othertimes.

The technological measures may be positioned in various locations on oraround the product and product packaging. As stated above, thetechnological measures may be printed or affixed to a case of authorizedproduct or to individual authorized product packaging. The technologicalmeasures can take the form of a code on a RFID chip. In otherembodiments of authorized product packaging, such as, coffee packets,fractional package, can, brewing pod, automated brewer brewing cup,bag-in-box packaging, pouches, bags, capsules, concentrate containers,powder containers, beverage pods, cartridges, barcodes, magneticstripes, or RFIDs, the technological measure may be printed or affixeddirectly thereon.

The current method, apparatus, and system can be used with a variety ofproducts including but not limited to beverage or food substances suchas ground coffee, tea, herbs, soup, liquid beverage or food concentrate,powdered beverage or food concentrate, syrups, mixes, mixes (powdered orliquid concentrate) for making granita beverages, freeze dried beveragesor foods or other food con centrates to obtain a desired beverage orother food. Additionally, other forms of juice, tea and beverageconcentrates and liquid, semi-liquid or gel form may be provided.

The current method can also be used in conjunction with adispenser-maker interface as disclosed in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/271,619 filed Oct. 14, 2002, and all relatedPatents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,465,035 issued Oct. 15, 2002,6,238,721 issued May 29, 2001, and 6,479,086 issued Nov. 12, 2002, thedisclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. As shown inFIGS. 8–9, this system uses an RFID chip 38 in a funnel 40 of a coffeebrewer/grinder 42 to communicate the coffee name and batch size tobrewer/grinder 42. In one embodiment of this system, this informationmay be entered into the funnel RFID chip 38 by a companion grinderduring the grinding process. In this embodiment, the funnel RFID chip 38can be dual purpose; to activate or store a number of authorized brewingcycles and to communicate information from the grinder 42 to the funnel40.

In another embodiment, equipment 12 may be any beverage making apparatuswhich utilizes a funnel or other vessel design for making beverage. Thefunnel may have a communication or coupling port for coupling to atechnological measure such as an RFID chip. In this embodiment, the RFIDis shipped with a selected number of brewing cycles corresponding to thenumber of brewing cycles used to process the product in that shipmentwith the possible additional allowances described above. In use, theRFID is coupled to the funnel at the port. Each brewing cycle performeddecrements the brewing cycle count on the RFID. This process is repeateduntil the brewing cycle count is decremented to zero after whichequipment 12 will no longer operate until the a new RFID with a non-zerocount is connected to the funnel.

A system of the current disclosure is defined to include the equipment12 or apparatus as described above in conjunction with product beingshipped or having on the product's packaging, one or more of thetechnological measures described above. The system effectively monitorsand prevents unauthorized equipment usage. It is envisioned that thissystem can be in communication with the Vendor via a communicationsnetworks such as the Internet so that a Vendor can monitor thatcustomer's usage.

A kit may also be provided for association with existing equipment sothat the equipment can be controlled in the manner described above. Thekit may include a technological measure reader 15 that is put in director indirect communication with existing equipment. Technological measurereader 15 may include a retrofit part or add-on that may be associatedwith an equipment's existing controller to prevent unauthorizedequipment operation. The retrofit may include, but is not limited to,adding a new controller module or component, updating an existingcontroller with the software module through any available programmingmethod, including flashing a controller's memory, replacing a chip,replacing a circuit board, or copying and running software code onmemory accessible to a controller's microprocessor. The software modulemay be included as part of a retrofit kit for updating existingequipment to include the functionality describe above. The term “module”referenced in this disclosure is meant to be broadly interpreted andbroadly cover various types of software code including but not limitedto routines, functions, objects, libraries, classes, members, packages,procedures, methods, or lines of code together performing similarfunctionality to these types of coding. The kit may also include one ormore authorization deactivators to be put in association with theequipment and/or technological measure reader.

Controlling the equipment to prevent unauthorized equipment usage mayalso be implemented with the following method. The authorized brewingcount may be monitored on a remote system in communication withequipment 12. As the customer orders authorized product, the authorizedbrewing count on the remote system is incremented accordingly.Subsequent equipment usage decrements the count on the remote system.The equipment 12 may only be operated while authorized brewing cyclesremain. The step of ordering the authorized product may be consideredthe technological measure in this embodiment. The customer's incentiveto purchase unauthorized product, as in the previously discussedembodiments, is removed because only the quantity of authorized productpurchased controls the authorized brewing count.

While embodiments have been illustrated and described in the drawingsand foregoing description, such illustrations and descriptions areconsidered to be exemplary and not restrictive in character, it beingunderstood that only illustrative embodiments have been shown anddescribed and that all changes and modifications that come within thespirit of the invention are desired to be protected. The applicants haveprovided description and figures which are intended as illustrations ofembodiments of the disclosure, and are not intended to be construed ascontaining or implying limitation of the disclosure to thoseembodiments. There are a plurality of advantages of the presentdisclosure arising from various features set forth in the description.It will be noted that alternative embodiments of the disclosure may notinclude all of the features described yet still benefit from at leastsome of the advantages of such features. Those of ordinary skill in theart may readily devise their own implementations of the disclosure andassociated methods, without undue experimentation, that incorporate oneor more of the features of the disclosure and fall within the spirit andscope of the present disclosure and the appended claims.

1. A method for preventing unauthorized equipment usage comprising thesteps of: providing equipment to a customer; providing authorizedbeverage making product to the customer for loading into the equipment,the authorized beverage making product being contained in packaging, theauthorized beverage making product being accompanied by a technologicalmeasure being associated with the packaging, the technological measuredesigned to be read by the equipment to set a predetermined number ofauthorized brewing cycles; and permitting the equipment to be operatedonly while there are authorized brewing cycles remaining.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising providing equipment to a customer withoutcharge.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising equipment thatcomprises a food dispensing portion and a technological measure reader.4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the technological measurereader being a bar code reader.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the technological measure reader being RFID transceiver. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising the packaging being afrac-pak.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the packagingbeing a can.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the packagingbeing a pod.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the packagingbeing a pouch.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising thepackaging being a k-cup.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprisingthe packaging being a capsule.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the authorized beverage making product being a powdered foodsubstance.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the authorizedbeverage making product being a freeze dried food substance.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the authorized beverage makingproduct being a freshly ground food substance.
 15. The method of claim1, further comprising the authorized beverage making product being aconcentrated food substance.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising the authorized beverage making product being a syrup.
 17. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the authorized beverage makingproduct being a mix for granita beverages.
 18. The method of claim 1,further comprising the authorized beverage making product being juice.19. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing equipment thatis a powdered beverage dispenser.
 20. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising providing an authorization deactivator being controllablyoperated by the equipment, the authorization deactivator performing adeactivating function on the technological measure after the equipmentcommunicates with the technological measure.
 21. The method of claim 20,further comprising the deactivating function being punching a hole inthe technological measure.
 22. The method of claim 20, furthercomprising providing a technological measure that has a volatilecounter, the deactivating function being decrementing the volatilecounter.
 23. The method of claim 20, further comprising the deactivatingfunction being melting the technological measure.
 24. The method ofclaim 22, further comprising providing equipment that is a beveragemaking apparatus, the beverage making apparatus having a funnel, thefunnel having a port for coupling with an RFJD chip, and providing atechnological measure that is an RFID chip, accompanying the authorizedbeverage making product by being shipped therewith, wherein the beveragemaking apparatus can operate so long as there are authorixed brewingcycles remaining on the RFID chip is coupled to the funnel.
 25. Themethod of claim 20, further comprising the technological measure being amagnetic card having a magnetic stripe that has volatile memory, thedeactivating function being activating an electromagnet that is incooperation with equipment to erase the volatile memory.
 26. The methodof claim 20, further comprising operating the electromagnet afterconfirming reading authorized brewing cycle information from themagnetic stripe.
 27. The method of claim 20, further comprising thedeactivating function being actuating a cutting blade to cut thetechnological measure.
 28. A method for preventing unauthorizedequipment usage for equipment that uses authorized beverage makingproduct to be loaded into the equipment delivered in packaging that hasmachine readable information thereon, the method comprising: providingan authorization deactivator that is controllably operated by theequipment, performing a deactivation function on at least of portion ofthe authorized beverage making product packaging having machine readableinformation thereon.
 29. The method of claim 28, further comprisingproviding the machine readable information on a technological measureassociated with the packaging.
 30. A method for preventing unauthorizedequipment usage comprising the steps of: providing equipment to acustomer; providing authorized beverage making product to be loaded intothe equipment to the customer, the authorized beverage making productbeing contained in packaging, the authorized beverage making productbeing accompanied by a technological measure associated with thepackaging, the technological measure designed to be read by theequipment; validating the authorized product; operating the equipmentwhile the authorized beverage making product is validated; and inresponse to the authorized beverage making product losing validation,performing a deactivation function on the technological measure.